Inside the Wonderworks
Every document in a North Pole Wonderworks package is issued by a department with its own crest, its own handwriting and its own opinion about how Christmas should be run. Here is who they are — and the real dates the season turns on.
Each one signs its own documents. The more complete the package, the more departments get involved in your child's delivery.
Writes the letter itself
The quiet room at the top of the stairs. Every letter is written here from the answers you give in the Secret Santa Interview — the bike with no training wheels, the little brother scared of thunder, the dog called Biscuit.
Issues: A Letter from Santa · Christmas Eve Letter · A Note from Mrs. Claus
Keeps the record
Enormous ledgers, very serious pens. They confirm the entry, stamp the year and issue the certificate that ends up on the fridge door until February.
Issues: Official Nice List Certificate · End of Year Review
Measures the magic
Somebody has to certify that a household's Christmas spirit is up to standard. This is that somebody. Their instruments are old, brass, and completely unexplainable.
Issues: Certificate of Christmas Magic · Believer's Charter
Notes, favours and gold stars
Third bench in the wrapping hall. Tinsel works here and is not supposed to be passing notes to children, which is exactly why the notes are so good.
Issues: A Note from Tinsel the Elf · Workshop Pass
Flight crew and route clearance
Feed schedules, hoof checks and the small matter of a nine-reindeer team crossing every roof on earth in one night. Rudolph files his notes here between shifts.
Issues: A Note from Rudolph · Flight Crew Roster
Loads and launches the sleigh
The loading bay. Sacks in, ropes checked, route printed. On the twenty-fourth this is the loudest place at the Pole and nobody stops moving until dawn.
Issues: Sleigh Route Confirmation · Delivery Window Notice
Identity and stamps
Issues the official North Pole ID, franks everything twice and insists that a letter is not real until it has been stamped by somebody with cold hands.
Issues: North Pole ID · Official Postmark
Forecasts the good kind of snow
Predicts flake size, sledging quality and the odds of a white Christmas on your street. They are wrong roughly as often as anybody else, but far more cheerfully.
Issues: Snowfall Forecast · White Christmas Odds
Fuel for everyone else
Mrs. Claus's domain. There is always a pot on the stove and a plate with somebody's name pencilled on it, and the elves believe the whole operation would collapse without it.
Issues: Cocoa Recipe Card · Gingerbread Licence
Builds, paints, tests
Sawdust, paint, and one bench dedicated entirely to things that were nearly finished last year. Every item is tested by an elf who takes the job extremely personally.
Issues: Workshop Progress Report
Ribbon, paper, secrecy
The longest room at the Pole. Sworn to silence — what goes into the paper here is not discussed again until Christmas morning.
Issues: Sealed Parcel Notice
Points the sleigh the right way
Charts, brass instruments and one very reliable star. They also answer letters from children who have wished on things and want to know if it worked.
Issues: Wish Log Entry · Night Sky Chart
Real dates, in order, with what happens at the Pole on each one. Handy for planning when the letter should land.
The Pole calls this the starting pistol. Letters begin arriving in Santa's Office by the sackful the following morning.
Santa's Office
The first candle is lit. Down at the Pole, the Christmas Spirit Department takes its first reading of the season.
Christmas Spirit Department
The perfect morning for a letter to arrive. Most families open theirs at breakfast on the first door day.
North Pole Postal Service
Shoes by the door, small treats inside. The Nice List Department does its first sweep of the ledgers.
Nice List Department
Candles, saffron buns and the longest singing shift of the year in the Cocoa & Gingerbread Kitchen.
Cocoa & Gingerbread Kitchen
Certificates are stamped and dated. Anything after this is added by hand, which the head elf pretends to disapprove of.
Nice List Department
Star Navigation runs its final chart of the year under the darkest sky it will get.
Star Navigation
The Wrapping Hall works straight through. Tinsel is on the third bench and will deny writing anything.
Wrapping Hall
Hooves, harnesses and one very bright nose. Rudolph signs the roster last, as tradition demands.
Reindeer Operations
Loaded at dusk, away by nightfall. Letters still arrive tonight: the digital delivery opens the moment you order, even at 11pm.
North Pole Transportation
Cast the North Pole Delivery to the television and let the letter be read out loud before the paper comes off anything.
Santa's Office
The Pole sleeps. The kitchen does not — the cocoa pot stays on for anyone coming off shift.
Cocoa & Gingerbread Kitchen
The End of Year Review is filed and the ledgers are closed for the season.
Nice List Department
Decorations down, star packed away, and next year's first letter already pinned to the wall in Santa's Office.
Star Navigation
Nothing ships, so nothing can arrive late. Order at breakfast on the first of December or at eleven o'clock on Christmas Eve — the delivery opens instantly either way.
Write their letter